Humira Double Dose

Has anyone tried double dose of Humira and did it work. My doc is recommending that I go to 80ml every two weeks instead of 40ml every two weeks.  

Thanks

I'm now double (weekly) dosing- will see how it goes. Remicade was losing its effectiveness within 2 weeks (this for a drug that is supposed to last 8 weeks between doses), and Humira has only been lasting a week for a drug that is supposed to last two between doses) so weekly Humira for the time being. With remicade I was getting joint aches after a few months, and an elevated ANA so I guess my body was rejecting it/ booting it out of the blood and thus wouldn't last. On Humira the only sign of allergy so far has been a mild soreness at the tip of my lips (got that with Remicade too but it was worse), and it seems to be abating with each injection so I'm hoping that my body is getting used to it now. Either that or it is getting booted out so fast that it too will soon be useless. Time will tell.

Thanks for replying. I was concerned with the side effects also. Double dose and double side effects like prone to more infection. My doc says nobody really knows. What did you docs say about it? Most of my colitis is in the last part of the colon/rectum and the single dose of Humira has helped but not completely.

Thank you Sweetie. Could not resist. I feel a little more compfortable know. I just have to get approved by my insurance company know for the extra dose. This stuff is expensive.

I have UC. 58 year old family man. Diagnosed in 2016. I was on Humira for 3-1/2 years and things were going great.
It took 8 weeks for the drug to kick in back then, but I got into remission and pretty much lived a normal life BM wise.
Felt like I had mild IBS. And what goes along with that.

I then got pneumonia in the spring of 2020 (related to being on Humira? Only God knows)....and the ER doctor said “let’s come off the Humira to get over this pneumonia.”

When the pneumonia finally went away I went to my GI and basically talked him into letting me try to stay in remission with just diet and exercise. He wasn’t a fan ...but said ok.
He said it was rare...but...possible to stay in remission this way. I wanted to give it a go.

I got about 6 months in... Then...wah wah...started to have problems.

Now I’m trying to get back into remission.

He started me back on the Humira with the maintenance pens of 40 ml.
6 weeks of that.
No good...going 4 to 6 times a day.

He said, let’s switch over to the induction package of Humira.
I pumped in 160 ml, then 15 days later, pumped in an 80 ml pen.

Nope....still 4 to 6 times a day. Very loose. No blood.

So...went to see him yesterday...I’m thinking with all that time off ....maybe I built up antibodies? My blood recently checked in at 0.8 mcg of Humira in my system and my GI said we are looking for 2.0 or greater.

I guess 0.8 means...SOME Humira is getting into my system...but obviously not what is needed.

Just had 5 year anniversary colonoscopy...all good.

So...he wants to keep pumping the 80 ml (double dose) into me every two weeks to see if that will do the trick.

I’ll keep you guys posted. He said if this doesn’t work he will be switching me to remicade.

I value this forum greatly!

Post Edited (Rusty Barr) : 5/25/2021 7:46:29 AM (GMT-6)

I switched to weekly Humira injections around Dec 2020, after a flare up that I got into remission quite quickly, before the increase in dosage, then flared again in March 2021. As I had therapeutic levels of Humira but no response I've recently been switched to Xeljanz.